Nick Saban: Grim Reaper?

Alabama is in the middle of five consecutive games vs. coaches on the hot seat.

Oct 3, 2017 by Kolby Paxton

Stop me if you've heard this before: Alabama is rolling.

The Crimson Tide just smacked back-to-back SEC opponents by a combined score of 125-3. Sophomore quarterback Jalen Hurts has put up 1,208 total yards, including a team-leading 461 rushing yards -- at 8.4 yards per carry -- 10 total touchdowns, and zero turnovers. Junior Bo Scarbrough is the third-leading rusher on a team that has rushed for 1,578 yards in five games.

'Bama's average margin of victory against a handful of teams that includes then-third-ranked Florida State, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Colorado State, and Fresno State is 38 points per game.

And while I seriously doubt that winning -- and winning by a million -- gets old, Saban and the Tide are in the middle of a five-game run that could, quite literally, send 35 percent of the conference in search of a new head coach.

Unfortunately for Ole Miss' Matt Luke, losing 66-3 isn't exactly the recipe for successfully prompting the removal of an interim tag, so that's probably one down with four to go. Here's a look at the next four dominos to fall:

Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0 SEC)

Give Kevin Sumlin a ton of credit. After the debacle in Westwood, CA, to open the season -- followed by a whatever you call a 10-point win against Nicholls State -- the wheels could have fallen off for the Aggies.

But they didn't -- not yet anyway.

Alabama begins a four-game stretch for Texas A&M that includes a visit to Florida followed by home games against Mississippi State and Auburn. Leadership in College Station has reportedly made its mind up on Sumlin, and Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp recently punted on a question about Sumlin's job security.

Losing to Alabama this Saturday is just short of an inevitability -- and will all but force Sumlin and the Aggies to win out in order for him to have any shot at sticking around in 2018.

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Arkansas (2-2, 0-1)

The honeymoon probably lasted a little longer than expected, but Bret Bielema's fourth season in Fayetteville ended with a thud. The Razorbacks led Missouri and Virginia Tech by a combined score of 48-7 at the break -- but were outscored 56-0 in the second half and dropped both games.

That, alone, had fans running low on patience. After all, Houston Nutt was bemoaned by a good portion of Hogs' supporters -- and ultimately fired -- after going 52-48 in the SEC during his career at Arkansas. Bielema is 10-23 and he hasn't played Alabama 13 times.

Then, of course, TCU smacked Arkansas in its true home opener and then the Hogs blew an early 21-7 lead and lost to Sumlin and the Aggies in what has become a college football version of the movie "Groundhog Day."

If Arkansas wins at South Carolina on Saturday (and that's a very big if), a loss to Alabama next weekend would force Bielema and the Razorbacks to go 5-1 down the stretch to get back to eight wins, which seems like the minimum necessary for spending another year in Hog Country -- massive buyout or not.

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Tennessee (3-2, 0-2)

After Saturday, it's tough to imagine a world in which Butch Jones returns as the Tennessee head coach in 2018.

The Vols' last five games -- at Kentucky, vs. Southern Miss, at Missouri, vs. LSU, vs. Vandy -- are very winnable, but three of the five are also very losable. Tennessee desperately needs a win next Saturday against South Carolina to lessen the coming blow of a potentially decisive loss at Alabama.

And, I know, that's why they play the games and all that. But the Tide are going to crush Tennessee in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 21. Fair or foul, even with a win vs. the Gamecocks, a loss to Alabama likely forces Jones and Co., to win out in order to stick around.

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LSU (3-2, 0-1)

Everyone is pulling for Ed Orgeron. Like, literally everyone. How do I know that? Because I'm pulling for Orgeron and the list of teams I grew up cheering against harder than LSU is extremely short.

That being said, LSU looks nothing like LSU.

At this rate, there would appear to be at least another loss or two waiting for the Tigers between now and Nov. 4, when LSU heads to Tuscaloosa to serve as a sacrificial lamb to the Crimson Tide.

At 4-4 -- and likely even at 5-3 -- Coach O is going to need to close out the regular season with four straight wins, beginning with Alabama. And that ain't gonna happen.

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As if it weren't enough for Saban to crush the college football world into submission for a solid decade, now he's putting his colleagues in unemployment lines.

Alabama football: Where brutal happens.